Quantitative and mid-infrared changes of humic substances from burned soils

Abstract

The humic substances are an abundant and important part of soil organic matter which plays many roles in ecosystems. On the other hand, forest fires are known to have a potential impact on the soil organic matter. Consequently, we chose to study the impact of forest fires on humic substances and the three relevant fractions, e.g. humic acids (HA), fulvic acids (FA) and non-humified fraction (NHF), NHF being the fulvic acids not adsorbed on XAD-8 resins. The studied site is a Mediterranean forest called “Maures Mountains”, in France, where 30 sites were sampled in two layers: 0–5 and −5 to 15 cm. In order to validate the method, the 2 horizons from 5 sites randomly chosen were analyzed in triplicates. The extraction and fractionation procedures were achieved using alkali- and acid-solutions. The measurement of total organic carbon (TOC) using the TOC-meter and the use of Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy gave us quantitative and qualitative results to evaluate the impact of forest fires and the role of their repetition. The results show that the fires led to significant decreases (Student test, P=0.05) of humic substances (HS), HA and of the fulvic fractions (FF=FA+NHF) in surface layers, corresponding to 40%, 34% and 35%, respectively. Moreover, the significant HA/FF ratio increases (Student test, P=0.05), as a result of the fire, indicate that NHF was probably transformed in FA-like compounds. About the qualitative impact, the results showed a significant decrease of alkyl and hydroxyl groups (OH), carboxylic acids and carbohydrates in HA after a wildfire, whereas the decrease was significant only for alkyl groups and carboxylic acids in FA. Lastly, the design of this work (control and burned sites, number of samples, time elapsed after fires, etc.) enables one to show the recovery of the Mediterranean forest ecosystem. FA quality and OH groups in HA are recovered between 3 and 16 years after the fire whereas alkyl groups, carboxylic acids and carbohydrates in HA as well as HS contents are not returned to the control state 16 years after the last fire.